2. Interculturalism, multiculturalism and intercultural competence.pptx

INTERCULTURALISM and MULTICULTURALISM  THE POWER OF CATEGORIES: BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS.  INTERDISCIPLINARY DIALECTICS FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE. Culture & Development I Master’s in INTERCULTURAL STUDIES FOR BUSINESS Intercultural transits have always been present, from the perverse i...

INTERCULTURALISM and MULTICULTURALISM  THE POWER OF CATEGORIES: BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS.  INTERDISCIPLINARY DIALECTICS FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE. Culture & Development I Master’s in INTERCULTURAL STUDIES FOR BUSINESS Intercultural transits have always been present, from the perverse intercultural dialogue of colonialism to the current cultural heteroglossia of the internet. This reflection approaches the topic of intercultural competence and the concept of interculturalism (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2006; Ibanez & Saenz, 2006; Costa & Lacerda, 2007; Sarmento, 2010, 2014, 2016; Dervin, Gajardo & Lavanchy, 2011; Holliday, 2011, 2013; Dervin & Gross, 2016; Imbert, 2014) as:  Movement;  Comunication;  Dynamics;  Encounter;  Synthesis. The intercultural stands at the junction of knowledge and politics. (Dervin, Gajardo and Lavanchy, 2011) In this topic we will discuss:  Differences between multiculturalism and interculturalism;  Definition of intercultural competence:  Interdisciplinary dialectics; Hybridity; Cultural translation; Contact zone; Emergent/absent narratives; Thresholds; Intersecting discursive fields.  Within Western European and Portuguese context;  Portugal: “interweaving logics in a continuous improvisation and negotiation” (Mbembe, 1992), still struggling with the reconstruction of its identity, as a former colonial power, once central within its own empire, though always peripheral in Europe. The notions of belonging and homeland have been reconceptualised in contexts of migration, deterritorialization, diaspora, virtuality, digitalization, etc (Hall, 1994). Cultural identities are not fixed but fluid, not given but performed. In this way, we cross the first great border of intercultural transits avoiding the commonplace notion of the intercultural as a mere “us versus them”. This approach generates interdisciplinary dialogue between fields that have ignored each other, such as:  translation studies and anthropology;  law and the sciences of language;  history and literary studies;  cultural studies, economics & management (MA). Intercultural competence entails the ability to understand the close relationship between language, arts, conventions and discourses in a constant process of problem solving and anticipation, adaptation and awareness. Hence, the present approach to the notion of intercultural functions as a sort of third space, to quote from Homi Bhabha (1994), a third space for hybridity, subversion and transgression. Hybridity is the space where all binary divisions and antagonisms, typical of conservative political and academic concepts, do not work anymore. They do not work in intercultural competence either, since we understand it as the capacity for unceasing movement, communication and cooperation between cultures. Deconstruction from within (Spyvak on Derrida, 2016). The Power of Categories: Between Science and Politics Present day converging interests are evident in the expectations and in the relations of power that pervade everyday life in business, academia and society in general. Networks and echoes from the international academic community spread rapidly throughout the globe, and their multiple forms of cultural interaction bring with them their own forms of manipulation and subversion. These actions carried out in the peripheries can be metaphorically described as:  “Borderzones” (Bruner, 1996);  “Thresholds” (Davcheva, Byram and Fay, 2011);  “Intersecting discursive fields” (Tsing, 1993);  “Spaces on the side of the road” (Stewart, 1996). Intercultural competence is the place where the overlapping of cultures occurs, which is the characteristic of a site of cultural translation. Cultural translation is a major force of contemporary democracy also in the academic field. The universal can only be conceptualized in articulation with its own peripheries:  Judith Butler’s “return of the excluded” (Butler, 1996; Butler, Laclau and Zizek, 2000);  Bhabha’s hybridity. The process through which universality readmits its own excluded…  Buttler calls it translation. Cultural translation may work as the “return of the excluded”, pushing limits, bringing about epistemological changes and opening new spaces for free discussion and independent research.  For Bhabha, as well as for Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2006; 2008), the potential for change is located at the peripheries, which are marked by hybridity.  There, “new arrivals” (Santos, 2006) or “excluded” – like polytechnics and universities from peripheral countries and regions, like unconventional research groups, like young female academics – are able to use subversion to undermine the strategies of the powerful, The Intercultural experience… … truly occurs when we are able to see ourselves and our work as if we were “others”. Derrida (1981 [1972]): the construction of an identity is always based on exclusion and a violent hierarchy results from dichotomous pairs.  Man/woman;  White/black;  Colonizer/colonized;  Straight/gay;  Elite/masses;  Science & technology/arts & humanities. But local and global practices and knowledge do not form a dichotomy Their correlation provides a stimulating dynamic tension, as the search for local concepts generates new concepts. Any approach must be located within the network of ideological and material contexts of a given region. In a post-colonial world, the intersections of past and present, global and local, define the guidelines to explore the negotiation and evolution of concepts. Multiculturalism:   Delimited space, within which different cultures cohabitate in a self-enclosed, stationary ignorance. Political-ideological study, focusing both on the dominant or host society, and on the migrant or minority groups.  Ontological approach, as an existing or desired social reality.  The multicultural space exists as a result of intercultural, multidirectional and reciprocal (random?) movements. Interculturalism:  Facilitates an interactive and dynamic cultural exchange.  Hermeneutic option, an epistemological approach.  Movement with an underlying stream of consciousness.  Polyphonic narratives of dynamic tensions.  Goes beyond nations or simplified ethnicities (Booth, 2003). Multiculturalism tends to assume a utopian character, stripped of dilemmatic or conflicting aspects…  Utopias are by definition unreal;  Shocked disappointment at the alleged failure of multiculturalism;  Easy conclusion: it is in fact impossible for different cultures to coexist.  Agents of difference are segregated or ultimately erased for the sake of common sense, so that a normal(ized) society may prevail. The “death of multiculturalism” (A. Merkel, 2010) implies that its agents, those who have brought along multiplicity and difference, have also failed and are no longer welcome. But recent history has taught us that discursive categories and symbolic markers of identity have actual and very dramatic effects in the everyday experience of groups and individuals.  French interculturalism is less anchored in civic rights movements and more influenced by international organizations. Schools were the first institutions to feel the need for intercultural competence, through the practice of socio-cultural mediation (Meunier, 2008, 2009, 2014).  In Portugal, socio-cultural mediation emerged in the 1990s, as a result of the country’s joining the then EEC.  The concept of multiculturalism prevails in the Anglo-Saxon world.  Groups of different cultural matrices are integrated in public life in order to ensure social cohesion, but not inclusion.  A “well-integrated” person has rejected or concealed those features that might be identified as foreign, thus rejecting or concealing a significant part (if not all) of her/his own identity. A significant part of the existing literature on multiculturalism in English is, in fact, an exhaustive list of differences between an individual us shocked but full of good will, and a collective other, characterized as homogeneous and hypersensitive to offenses to their strange traditions. Empirical manuals with very pragmatic purposes: facilitate economic relations with exotic partners and/or popular university toolkits. Seldom do the explanations provided equate the possibility of a certain action being dictated by the individual’s conscience. Essentialist approach: seems inconceivable that a non-Western (i.e. non-AngloSaxon) behaviour may derive from something other than the simple dictates of tradition and culture, met without dissonance or place for the agency of autonomous individuals. When an individual – who is seldom the prototype of a group – fails to be incorporated into the expected (prejudged) framework, serious difficulties arise, because in reality people cannot be understood outside of a process of communication and exchange. Questioning one’s identity in relation to others is an integral part of intercultural competence, as the work of analysis and of acquiring knowledge applies to others as much as to oneself (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2006). 7th Common Basic Principle for Immigrant Integration of the European Union (European Commission, 2004): frequent interaction between immigrants and citizens of member states is a fundamental mechanism for inclusion (communal forums, intercultural dialogue, information about immigrants and their cultures)… X Celebration of diversity of cultures as folklore or as ethnic versions of classic multiculturalism. = Positive encouragement of actual encounters between different groups and the creation of dialogue and joint activities. The approach to multiculturalism as folklore – where commodified cultures orderly display themselves for the comfort of dominant groups – entails a superficial and acritical understanding of cultural diversity. Multiculturalism stresses typologies and categorizations; interculturalism emphasizes mutations, fusions and relations. The ultimate goal of multiculturalism is a cautious tolerance, while that of interculturalism is communication (Kromidas, 2011). Interculturalism implies the shift to an analysis of complex, changeable and arbitrary situations, processes and cultural phenomena, such as acculturation, assimilation, resistance, identity or hybridity. Culture in action, instead of culture as an object: that is the aim of intercultural competence (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2006). Interdisciplinary Dialectics for Intercultural Competence The key-skills for intercultural competence rely on interdisciplinarity and creativity Creative, interdisciplinary approaches to the intercultural phenomenon are therefore likely to select unexpected fields of study, with their own hybrid methodologies. Intercultural competence and the capacity for dialogue between cultures are not a mere passive acceptance of the multicultural factor, nor the utopia of complete harmonization, but rather an essential component of every culture that wishes to assert itself as such. When differences are left aside and considered as non-existent, the result is an insufficient understanding of self and others. Although identity and difference are not exclusively discursive, they are contained in discourse. It is for this reason that language becomes a major factor when dealing with interculturalism. On the other hand, linguistic diversity is also present within the boundaries of a national language through intralinguistic social, regional, and stylistic differences, as well as through variations in dialect and register, thus calling for an intracultural variety of intercultural competence. E.g. the Portuguese dialect Mirandês & the typical accent of Porto = marks of social background; statements of regional identity; everyday forms of resistance to the cultural centralism of the capital. Communicative competence develops at the intra and intercultural level alike following the principle of self- and hetero-analysis, characteristic of intercultural competence. As a prerequisite for intercultural dialogue, we must recognize the different languages ​used by other actors and know their “hidden dimension[s]” (Hall, 1992 [1966]), even if we cannot do it otherwise than through translation. But practices and styles of translation that are not truly interpretative may hinder rather than facilitate intercultural communication. If diversity is now more visible than ever, it is also more communicable This is why the work of the translator acquires new dimensions:  The translator establishes relationships which make knowledge more accessible;  S/he directly interferes in her/his country’s textual production. The subversive nature of translation creates a renewed vision of the figure of the translator, granting her/him an importance that was not evident before, because “translation is one of the most obvious forms of image making, of manipulation, that we have” (Lefevere, 1990). Resistance to the impositions of globalization is marked by the way local communities preserve and transmit their oral traditions, dialects, founding myths and precepts of common knowledge whose cultural symbolism, ethics and aesthetics may function as educational tools for intercultural competence. The main relevance of narratives of local and oral culture does not lie in their credibility as documents in the positivist sense. They do not have to function as a glass window over, or as a mirror of, the social ‘matter’ represented (Chalhoub, 2003). They allow us to analyze critically the discourses that guide the logic of identity and the practices that move (and are moved by) current and retrospective representations of reality. The development and extension of the processes of mediatization and migration produce a considerable intensification of deterritorialization.  Deterritorialization: a proliferation of translocalized cultural experiences (Hernàndez, 2002).  It implies the growing presence of social forms of contact and involvement which go beyond the limits of a specific territory (Giddens, 1990). Intercultural awareness may focus on everyday tacit rules as well as on complex political, religious, economic, legal and philosophical systems. Some possible topics for consideration are:  The politics of intervention across borders;  Court interpreting;  Codes of conduct in social networks;  Localization of marketing campaigns;  Power relations in global tourism;  Immigration and emigration laws;  The unspoken rules of gender prejudice;  The history of the laws of slavery and their power over the fate of millions, forcefully displaced around the globe. Societies have never been static throughout history, as they have always adapted and changed according to the stimuli received from other cultures. The main difference is that nowadays, cultural contacts and exchanges occur in a much faster and globalized way. The centrality of dialogue for a new ethics of the intercultural requires not only respect for other cultures, but also the understanding of how much they already have in common, how they have interacted in the course of time, and how those similarities provide a basis for the development of new shared insights. The history of Portuguese expansion:  Even in a system of cultural dominance, the global interaction provided by the de-compartmentalization of the world was made ​of reciprocal influences. Contemporary Western culture is in itself the result of hybridization, under the influence of the so-called minority cultures in a mutual exchange that should not be reduced to mere conflict (Costa and Lacerda, 2007). The Portuguese role in the making of an early globalized modernity… The creation of a globe-spanning network between the 15th and 16th centuries involved the interpenetration of the commercial and the political, the material and the imaginary, the elite and the popular elements of the Portuguese experience. Oceanic networks thus created came to affect not only Europe, but also much of the rest of the world = precursors of present-day modes of globality and thinking globally. The Portuguese expansion took place throughout the empire and also at the metropolis back home, because of the way overseas people, their objects, habits and beliefs merged into Portuguese society. And here we are talking about dialectics and synthesis, once again…. The colonial and post-colonial world is a space of constant translation, a permanent contact zone, a worldwide frontier.  Active selectivity: in intercultural contact zones, each culture decides which aspects should be selected for translation, although there are elements which are considered as being untranslatable into other cultures, or too vital to being exposed to the perils and doubts of a contact zone (Santos, 2006).  Passive selectivity: what has become unnamable in a given culture, due to long term severe oppression; deep seated silences, absences that cannot be fulfilled but shape the innermost practices and principles of a cultural identity (slavery, racism, religious intolerance, colonial oppression, the subjugation of women, etc.) Processes of silencing and production of non-existence have contributed to the construction and strengthening of deep asymmetries between cultures, individuals, societies and genders, characteristic of colonialism and patriarchy. Because cultures are monolytical only when seen from the outside or from a distance; when seen closer or from within, it is easy to understand that cultures are constituted by many and often conflicting versions of themselves. More than ever, intercultural competence is to be practiced both at home and abroad: marginal & mainstream, youth & senior, rich & poor, erudite & popular cultures, in the interior of the same society, which is only apparently cohesive. Still, the need for intercultural understanding amongst such diversity is often neglected in favour of issues facilitated by distinctive ethnic markers. E.g.: How to face the cultural rifts that exist between generations in a WASP family? Or the growing gap between rich and poor in the receding Western economies? Or the stereotypes that underpin the political dialogue between the countries of Northern and Southern Europe? In societies where language, race, religion, class and comfort are reasonably homogeneous, cultural memory hardly needs to be invoked in the daily round. However, the more homogeneous a society, the easier it is to conceal the manipulation of its cultural memory by the politics of power (Chapman, 2005). Within the only apparent homogeneity of Portugal there are profound cultural differences between:  Urban centres and rural countryside;  Coast and inland;  North and south;  Capital and periphery. …. although devoid of visible ethnic markers, require intercultural competence so that dialogue and knowledge may emerge. When intercultural competence is put into practice as we understand it, narratives gradually emerge from a centuries-old silence. Emergent narratives grant a voice to subaltern groups , to all those “others” history is slowly recognizing. These narratives generate a source of vital information that complements official history and is absent from the canon of great narratives, with their underlying discourse of power. It is then possible to understand the infinite diversity of human experience as well as the risk it faces of wasting fundamental experience, due to the limits and exclusions imposed by strict isolated areas of knowledge. Thresholds = access = more collaborative academic territory = new processes of identification and interaction = new processes of intercultural competence. The communication model underlying the concept of interculturalism used here is a palimpsest, a constant intertextuality with other discourses and texts from the past and the present, that will, in turn, be used in future discourses and texts, in a permanent translation and dialogue between cultures. Conclusion:  We discussed intercultural competence in some non-traditional perspectives, aiming at the emergence of interstitial spaces that refuse the binary representation of cultural antagonism. The discourse of hybrid spaces is based on a dialectic that does not imply cultural hegemony.  Construct a sense of community and a cultural memory that grants narrative power to excluded groups.  Intercultural transits need a map drawn by disciplines that are seldom taken into account in a conservative approach to the notion of culture. This is why intercultural competence should circulate across disciplines, a line of thought which implies hybridization, dynamics and a permanent challenge to itself.